CEO 2016: Tokido Wins ‘Street Fighter V’ Championship!

Wow. Just…wow.

In what easily has to be one of the most spectacular matches in CEO history, Hajime ‘Tokido’ Taniguchi and Seon-Woo Lee (better known as ‘Infiltration’) battled it out for the CEO Street Fighter V championship in Orlando, Florida this weekend. Having survived a pool of over 800 Street Fighter V  players until being sent to Loser’s Bracket after losing to Infiltration 3-1 in Winners Semifinals, Tokido went on to defeat some of the most prolific players in the game today in Daigo Umahara, Haitani, and Momochi to earn a spot in the Street Fighter V Grand Finals.

What would happen in the rematch between Infiltration and Tokido would be nothing short of an instant classic.

Infiltration went into CEO undefeated this entire season, finishing first in the Final Round tournament in Atlanta and NorCal Regionals in Sacramento. Odds favored the Korean-born player, and he seemed to be well on his way to his third win of the season–that is until Tokido’s agrressive play outmatched that of the 2015 EVO champion.

Grand Finals began with Infiltration taking the first set with Nash by drawing Tokido into the corner and quickly teleporting behind him to land an overhead punch–a move which has become Infiltraton’s go-to finsiher since the move gets around most defenses. Surprisingly, that would be the only set Infiltration would take in Grand Finals.

After evening the score at one set a piece, Tokido never looked back. Suddenly, Tokido implemented some of the most aggressive Ryu gameplay in the entire CEO tournament. Rather than keeping his distance from Infiltration’s Nash, Tokido went straight at him with a series of quick three-hit combos and chain grabs–closing the gap between both characters. Infiltration had difficulty escaping Tokido since he rarely repeated the same combination, making in frustratingly difficult for Infiltration to get proper read on his opponent. In the closing moments of several rounds when it appeared Infiltration–with a healthy life lead–would take the win, Tokido managed to steal wins away by capitalizing on timely parries and reading Infiltration’s teleport attempts.

With the bracket reset, Tokido’s dominance continued as he went on to sweep Infiltration in three straight sets–ending the tournament with a deafening statement by finishing off Infiltration with a Perfect K.O. and sending the crowd in a frenzy of cheers and applause. Tokido takes home the CEO Street Fighter V Championship as well as a prize purse of over $12,000.

Geekscapists, with EVO only a month away, do you think Tokido will repeat his success in Las Vegas, or will Infiltration reclaim the title? Better yet, can an American win the Street Fighter championship for the first time in EVO history? Sound off in the comments below and we may mention you on the next episode of the Geekscape Games Podcast!